Lawang Sewu located at Tugu Muga Semarang (Central Java). It is a famous landmark in the region of Semarang and a pride for Java. This ancient & magnificent building was an office of Nederlandsch Indishe Spoorweg Naatschappij (NIS), which was built starting in 1903 and completed in the year 1907. After Indonesia’s independence this building is used for office DKARI (now PT KAI-Indonesian Rail Company), after PT KAI move to a new building, this building used by Kodam IV / Diponegoro (Indonesian Military). After Kodam IV move to new building, Lawang Sewu was left empty for many years.
People called this building “Lawang Sewu” that means thousand doors. Because this building has a lot of rooms, and each room has about 4-8 doors, then if calculated is about 1000 doors. This building is beautiful with art deco style. It said that its floors made from marble from Italy, its iron spiral-staircase was made without any weld. In the main stair, there are a beautiful big mosaic. This building was design with careful & detail by Dutch architect Prof. Jacob F. Klinkhamer and B.J Queendag.
Entrance fee is Rp 5,000 (USD 0.5) for local tourist, perhaps more expensive for foreign tourist. Actually it is not a legal entrance fee, since this building is not open for tourism, it just manage by several family who live near this building and help to maintain the building. They were paid by PT KAI but with very limited value. So they utilize this building and also stand as a tour guide. Creative.. During our trip here, we accompany by a lady who explain this building history.
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